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PRESENTED BY 



/ 

DISCOURSE 

ON THE STUDY OF THE 

HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 



AND 

ITS USEFULNESS AT THIS EPOCH. 

DELIVERED AT GENEVA, 

JANUARY 2, 1832. 

BY MERLE D'AUBIGNE, 

MINISTER OF THE HOLY GOSPEL IN THE REFORMED CHURCHj 

AND LATE PRESIDENT-PASTOR OF THE CONSISTORY OF THE 
PROTESTANT CHURCH AT BRUSSELS. 



"Times of Refreshing from the Presence of the Lord" ". Until 

f he limes of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken." 

[Acts, 3. 19. 21, 



Translated from, the French, 

BY THOS. S. GRIMKE, 



[CHARLESTON : 

OBSERVER OFFICE PRESS, 

1833. 



5V 



^ww«^«ar^Sifi'g7igsgBa^ 



TAfs Discourse was not delivered before an audience of 
Students, but of persons differing in age and sex. It is 
dedicated to Augustus Neander, S. T. D. Professor of 
Ecclesiastical History, in the University of Berlin. 



®!&<8®TOMU 



Gentlemen, 

My design is to address you on the History of the 
Reformation in Germany — in the 16th century. Literature 
th Sciences, the Arts, Philosophy, the Civil History of 
Nations, have been successively in this city, and in the midst 
of you, subjects of instruction by men justly celebrated. 

1 invite yon to a new field — the history of Christiaiii&m.* 

I ought then to assign the reasons of my choice. I ought 
to disclose the advantages which I discover in the study of 
that history at this epoch. 

You are, perhaps, at this very time, my justification. — 
That, we should believe it possible to fix the attention of 
men in our day on the history of the Christian relioion ; 
that we should command an audience, desirous of hearing 
it; this, Gentlemen, is a sign of the times. It proves that 
men of the world, absorbed until now in the exterior forms 
the ornaments, the splendid dress of nations, and of their 
history, have at length begun to consider what is," what 
ou^ht to be their heart and life. 

And yet, who is it, who dares to venture on this new 
career ? Who dares to follow so many men, admirable for 
genius, profound in knowledge, and skilful in the art of 
speaking ; whose privilege it is to gather every winter in 

this eity, an audience of every age, and of both sexes. 

Powerful must indeed be the motive, which brings forward 
one who has been called, it is true, to preach the everlasting 
Gospel ; but who has never yet ventured to sp«al< save in 
the Sanctuary, and with the aid of that holy office which 
exnlls the humblest, and animates the most feeble. 

This motive is the excelence of that study., to which I 
invite you. 

There are, in the life of each man in particular, and of 
nations in general, three great elements, politics, letters 
(comprehending, of course, the sciences, the arts, and 
philosophy,) and religion. And it mij»ht almost seem, as 
though these three elements have appropriated to themselves 
the three great modifications of man. The political baa 
engrossed bis will and vigor of action. The literary, his 
inteligence and all the variety of his imaginations an J 

Vote .*. 



4 

thoughts. The religious, his heart and the energy of his 
affections. Bu- religion enthroned as it were in the centre, 
extends over the whole man her sceptre of power. 

There are then, according to these elements, three spe- 
cies of the history of man — the political, the literary, the 
religious. The History of Religion, it cannot be denied, is 
the least cultivated in our day. How zealously, on the 
contrary, do not meu study political history, believing that 
they shall discover there, as augurs in the entrails of victims, 
the prognostics and the key of futurity! How many systems 
of history, now picturesque, now philosophical, are passing 
in review before us! How many eminent men, within our 
own walls, has not their narrative of national events immor- 
talized ! With what ardor, is not the history of letters 
studied! Who has not read, again and again, the Lyceum 
of La Harpe, the works of Ginguene, of Schlegel, of 
De Stael, of Sismondi, and of so many others 1 Still more is 
done. Each fashions this history for himself: he approaches 
these documents, these materials, so formidable in the 
other two departments ; he reads them, again and again, 
with delight, because they are the master-works of genius* 
Every educated man examines, compiles, judges, creates an 
entire history of letters in his own mind. 

But as to the History of Christianism, who is engaged in 
that ? Who studies it ? A handful of our cotemporaries, if 
indeed so many. And yet, I regard it as undoubtedly the 
most worthy of the attention of men : as that, which in our 
age, furnishes the most salutary lessons, and in whose 
prophetic entrails, we shall learn correctly what is sought 
in vain elsewhere. 

Perhaps this first sitting will be suitably employed, in the 
endeavor at the outset, to remove the prejudices entertained 
in our day, against studying the History of Christianism; 
and I shall afterwards establish the usefulness of this history, 
in the present age of the world. 

One of the distinctive features of the past Age, was a 
spirit of profaneness and mockery. The History of Chris- 
tianism was affected by it. This imposing edifice, which 
appeared as the work of ages, was assailed with sarcasms, 
that confounded in one sentence of condemnation, Catho- 
licism and Christianism, the Church of Men and the Church 
of God. The structure of Men, which might perhaps, have 
resisted all serious assaults, soon crumbled with a loud crash, 
before the light breath of ridicule. But in its fall, it drew 
along with itself the power which had overturned it. Man 
passes not in vain through such a crisis. He acquired 
beneath the ruins a new temper. Baptized in blood, our 



5 

a<*e could no longer exist in the frivolous atmosphere of its 
predecessor. The profane La H:irpe, rn some respects the 
successor of Voltaire, in thr office of President of the 
Anti-Christian League — came forth a Christian from the 
dungeons of the Revolution, into which he had been cast an 
unbeliever. The lempest of the Revolution has not how- 
ever, entirely swallow I up the impious spirit which roused 
it. Still does it subsist among us, although a stranger 
perhaps to the characteristic spirit of our age. The History 
of Chnstianism is still assailed by ridicule, in which you 
may perhaps discover at times, some grains of the wit of 
Aristophanes and Voltaire. That ridicule must leave some 
impression on light minds, which may thus, for a season at 
least, become indifferent to grave and useful studies. It is 
not expected of me to answer sarcasms : one word suffices. 
Doubtless, ye scoffers of the age ! ye may find on this or 
that passage in the history of Religion, a brilliant quibble 
or heartless raillery ; but there is in Christianism and its 
annals, something beyond your reach. History exhibits it 
as an angel, bearing from Asia to Europe, from Europe 
through the whole E >rth,and among all Nations, light and life: 
destroying evil every where in its course, and leaving every 
where, the incorruptible seeds of good. Whoever has met 
with it, has been healed bv the salutarv influence which it 
sheds around. Before such achievments of benevolence f 
the weapons of ridicule are impotent. The pointed shafts 
of th? scoffer never can destroy the work of God. Child- 
ish arrogance only could attempt it ; timid weakness only 
could fear it. 

There are men of a gravel cast, though not less incredu- 
lous, who attack with other arms, the history of religion. 
What, they ask, can the History of Christianism reveal ? 
Why, do you thus unadvisedly ransack its annals 1 What 
can you derive from them ] Christianism has been injurious 
to humanity. Man has been kept by it in swaddling clothes. 
Its influence on the civil and political state of Nations has 
been unfavorable. Such words afflict the soul by the deep 
ingratitude, the utter blindness from which they flow. We 
shall not even mention the blessings of Christianism in 
Eternity, though these are its chief object ; but shall stand 
on the very ground, to which our adversaries challenge us. 
44 Take," will we say to them, 44 a map : lay before us a 
statistical view of nations. Where is light 1 and where 
darkness t W'here is liberty ? and where slavery ? Do 
you not observe the shadows, which rest on all tbe unchris- 
iianized States ? and the light, which covers Christian 
countries 1 What is it, that rends the black and polluted 



6 

vail, which hung so long over the shores of Otalleite, of 
Eimeo, of Hawai ? What but Christianism 1 Take now 
a pencil, mark by successive shadows, the regions, where 
knowledge, morality, religion, prevail the most. You will 
find but one progress, that of Christianism itself. Wherever 
the Gospel shines the brightest, there will you behold most 
abundant, the chief blessings of humanity. The United 
States of America, Great Britain, other Evangelical coun- 
tries, where the light of the Eternal word is shed tri all its 
purify, will be at the top of the scale : and the transient 
shades which leads us from Christian to heathen regions, 
distinguish those portions of the earth, where though 
Christianism exists, it is stifled by the human elements 
commixed with it.* But why have recourse to this geogra- 
phical coup d' ceil ] The history of Christianism will itself 
give the answer to your objections. There will it be seen 
elevating gradualy from age to age, the character of nations. 
Still more : it will there be discovered, that even the corrup- 
tions of Christianism, those, against which you contend the 
most strenuously, have been useful to humanity, whenever 
they have retained the least element of the religion of Jesus 
Christ. There will you behold those Convents, (the just 
objects of our reprobation) becoming, as it were, unconsci- 
ously, depositories for the preservation of so many ancient 
monuments of letters, amidst the deluge of Northern 
Barbarians, and when the flood had passed, again sending 
forth those treasures. But there, you will especially behold 
that ilustrious Reformation, some of whose features I shall 
sketch, which delivered the human mind from the chains 
which had oppressed it, and which has become to the Na- 
tions, the dawn of a new day of light, evangelization, and 
life. In its history, Christianism is every where exhibited 
as the friend of human nature. 

But, you must confess, say other men of the age, thaithe 
history of Christianity reveals to us many things, intrigues, 
wars, and the like, which cannot but expose it, and diminish 
that respect, which you demand for it. This, we deny. 
Christianism is a divine work, and of course, perfectly pure. 
Whatever has flowed from itself is good. But, in descending 
from Heaven to Earth, from God to Man, it has suffered 
alloy. Christianism in man, and even in the holiest of men, 
is not Christianism in God, that is to say, in Jesus Christ. 
Impute not to God, that of which Man only is guilty. The 
water which falls from heaven, is pure, and even the purest 
of all, for it has been distilled in the wonderful apparatus of 
God. And yet, scarcely has it touched the, earth, when it is 

* Note #. 



already defiled. How often alas ! will not the hardened 
heart of man suffer the life-giving waters of Christianism 
to penetrate his bosom ? To those heavenly influences how 
obstinately is it closed. Man drives away religion from his 
heart, and is content to wear it without, as a cloak to his 
sins. And then, the vulgar dignify, with the name of Chris- 
tianism, what is thus displayed to their eyes ! History will 
rend this hypocritical mantle : and will reveal the passions 
which it hid, and which were the only moving cause in him, 
who had enveloped himself thus artfuly. There will ymi 
see, for example, that those irreligious wars, called religious, 
sprang not from Christianity, but from the immediate influ- 
ence of that very power of evil, which Christianism came 
to destroy. There will you discover, that those maxims of 
the Governors, of the chiefs of the church, which you justly 
condemn as disgraceful, were directed against the religion 
itself of Jesus Christ ; that this was the victim which they 
immolated, not the tongue which uttered them. History 
justifies Christianism, dissipates every cloud, and every 
prejudice, and all the hatred wherewith man has been 
pleased to surround that sublime and heavenly image, which 
dwells in the midst of ages ; and exhibits it to the admiration 
of men, in all its simplicity, innocence, beauty and 
glory. 

Jf Christianism be innocent of all that is usualy laid to 
its charge, at least, it will be said, the history of the Church 
is the most barren, the most destitute of life and emotion, 
and consequently the least interesting, which can be imagin- 
ed. Councils and decrees of Councils, Popes and bulls, 
metaphysical doctrines, subtile distinctions, scholastic 
systems, are not these all that it offers ? Doubtless, it would 
be strange that the history of this kingdom of God, which 
its founder said should be a living seed, that would become 
a great tree, full of sap, and casting all around its beneficent 
shade: or as leaven, which should leaven the whole lump, 
that is, should communicate life to the world, that such a 
history should abound in unfruitfulness and subtilty. Not 
so, for there are two histories. There is, if you please r 
what we shall call, M the History of the Church, 11 that is, 
of human institutions, forms, doctrines, and actions : and 
11 the History of Christianism," which has brought into the 
world, and still preserves a new life, a life divine : the history 
of the government of that King who has said, l * the words 
which I speak unto you are spirit and life : the history of 
that regenerative influence of Christianism, through which 
so many individuals and nations have experienced a thorough 
change in their moral and spiritual condition : the history 



of that new and second creation, which fashions a people 
for God upon earth : the history of that invisible Church, 
wjuch is tl\e assembly of the first born : Heb 12, 23. 
Mo*i historians it is true, have hitherto presented u.>iv the 
barren history of the exterior Church; because they them- 
selves were only the outwaid Man, and had scarcely even 
imagined the life of the spiritual Man. But is this a proof 
that it does not exist? Grant that human forms have 
destroyed this new dominion of truth, justice and love, which 
proceeds from the Father. Because you see at first, only 
a dry and hard shell, will you reject the delicious fruit 
which is concealed under this homely covering ? In 
seasons of barrenness and death, the Church could only 
have a lifeless and steril history. But Life while descending 
to the Church of our day* has descended also in its history. 
Reserve your objections for those, who may continue to 
drag on in the barren field of rationalism and human 
opinions. The old man sees in the field of the Church, 
but dry bones. The new man there discerns that spirit 
which blows from the four winds, and creates for the Eternal 
" an exceeding great army" : Ezek. 37, 10. There is then 
a new History of Christianism : that which we have under- 
taken to unfold and defend : and not the history of human 
forms and barrenness. 

"Do you then imagine that you shall find in Christianism, 
life, elevation, generosity," says a gloomy philosophy, 
which pretends that the individual good of each man ought 
to be the noblest object of his life. "What an illusion .! 
Those remarkable actions, that self-sacrifice, of which the 
history of Christianism seems to furnish examples, are but 
hidden passions, ambition, avarice, sensuality, envy, covered 
with obvious veils : an egotism, somewhat more refiued than 
that of the multitude. The only difference between the 
grossest of men, and the heros of the Christian history, is 
rhat these know how to disguise somewhat more ingeniously 
the passions which governed them. And if all be not thus 
explained, a deplorable fanaticism and enthusiasm will 
account for the rest." Such is the language that has been 
held, more especialy of the history, which 1 am called to 
lay before you, and of the most ilustrious characters which 
it presents to your view. Gloomy and hideous system ! 
which only taking account of the corruption of man, is 
ignorant of those pure and sublime inspirations which 
proceed from the Spirit of God : a system, which overturns 
the whole moral hierarchy, since the most dissolute and the 
most criminal of men would beat least sincere, by appear- 
ing such as they realy are ; whilst the flower of humanity. 



9 

men of disinterestedness and self-sacrifice, would be a hand 
of deceivers and knaves, whose only aim would have been 
to conceal the disgraceful motives of their actions. Seriously 
to refute such asystem would almost be high treason against 
Divinity and humanity. The History of Christianism shall 
itself he, moreover, the most triumphant vindication. It 
will open to you the gates of a world, different from that 
inhabited by the natural man. It will display to you a 
power, which a narrow-minded philosophy cannot compre- 
hend. The majority of men comprehend nothing but ma- 
terialism. Some more enlightened attain to rationalism. 
The history of Christianism will carry us still higher. It 
will disclose to us spiritualism, which is the true, the primi- 
tive life of man, of which he was deprived, and which 
Christianism comes to restore. It will constrain us to 
acknowledge that life to be more certain ; more real, than 
rationalism, and, even materialism. It will set before us, 
and we shall almost touch with our hands, a strength of 
faith, which is given from above to man, and which over- 
comes the world and all the passions of the heart. It will 
teach us to discern two classes of men upon the earth, and 
will teach us to understand this profound thought, " The 
first man is of the earth, earthy ; but the second man is the 
Lord from heaven. As is the earthy such are they also that 
are earthy : and as is the heavenly, such are they also that 
are heavenly." 1 Cor. 15. 47, 48. 

"At least, however," it will be said, " it is certain and 
irrefutable, that the history of the Church most frequently 
presents us. with controversies, agitations, quarrels, wars. 
What interest would you have us take in such things ? How 
indeed could we esteem such a history ?" Controversies, 
agitations, say you 1 And, are such the motives for your 
contempt of the History of Christianism ? But let me ask 
you, what beneficent principle, what fortunate conception 
for humanity, has ever been established, without agitation, 
without a struggle, without a conflict 1 Philosophers ! had 
not your Galileo a contest to maintain ; whilst he was teach- 
ing the movements of the heavens, and do not you honor 
him the more for it ? Literati ! had not your Corneiile to 
endure discussion and criticism, whilst he was creating the 
language and poetry of France ? And you, ye Liberals of 
the age! who perhaps chiefly assail the history of the 
religion of Jesus Christ, was yourMirabeau without combats 
in the tribune 1 and when he blew the trumpet of new-born 
liberty, was the war, of which he sounded the signal, a short 
one ? or rather, are we not now as between two armies of 
nations, in battle array against each other, brandishing with 

2 



impatience the arms which must decide the victory 2 And 
Christianism, which attacks man in his clearest passions, 
though they are the very cause of his misfortunes, in his 
love of riches, his ambition, his vain glory, in a word in 
this inferior self, which man idolizes, and of which a 
sublimer self is the slave, shall this Christianism be alone 
exempt from struggles and contests ? The burthened 
atmosphere is only purified by tempests : and the crisis of 
his disorder is deliverance to the sick. And, in like manner, 
that truth may possess the earth, she must combat hand to 
hand with error. But the end, the result of Christianism is 
peace. Peace upon earth ! Such was the cry from heaven, 
when the earth received its Savior. We are marching 
onwards to peace — Let us then march onwards, if necessary 
through the fire of battle. 

But I am deceived if the history of the religion of Jesus 
Christ do not present to you far other objects than agitations 
and troubles. It exhibits a phenomenon altogether unique, 
and to be found no where else. It offers to you peace, in 
the midst of trouble : meekness of spirit amidst the confla- 
gration of the passions. It will lead you to the sanctuary 
of the men of God ; and whilst around them, agitations, 
conspiracies, and terrible cries prevail, you shall behold 
them calm, cheerful, and full of a peace, which passeth all 
understanding. Satisfied with having borne witness to the 
truth, they have committed their cause to the Eternal, and 
remain tranquil and at rest, waiting on him. Of this, the 
history of the Reformation and of that of Luther in particu- 
lar, will furnish you ilustrious examples. The History of 
Christianism makes known the only real peace, which has 
ever been upon earth. 

Are not such studies, say respectable men but of unsettled 
opinions, at least fitted to confuse us on religious subjects, 
to strip us of our faith, and to lead us into skepticism and 
incredulity'? There is nothing, after the Word of God, 
better suited to save us from incredulity and superstition, 
and to attach us to true Christianism, than the history of 
the religion of Jesus Christ. Undoubtedly, if you take one 
Ecclesiastical Historian, who presents a Religion and the 
Church in Popes and Councils: or another who arrays them 
in a meagre natural theology, lightly shaded with Christian- 
ism, and in the barren instructions of human reason : or 
another still, who exhibits them through metaphysical 
dogmas or scholastic distinctions — Such would undoubted- 
ly disgust you with what each would call religion. But 
where is the great evil? Take, on the contrary, a historian, 
who presents to you the religion of Jesus Christ, such as it 



11 

is in reality, u the light and the life of the world.*' Such a 
history, I feel assured, would make you love that religion* 
There is still more. If other considerations have shaken 
your faith) tins study will strengthen it. The enemies of 
Religion, pf Christianism, ai-d of the Reformation in particu- 
lar, will perhaps exclaim, that craft, enthusiasm, credulity 
or incredulity, have accomplished these two great revolu- 
tions in the world. They will tell you that men had not 
time to examine : that they were accomplished hy means of 
a commotion, from which mankind were-, astonished to find 
that they had come forth Christian and Protestant. Let us 
stretch forth the torch of history, and all these phantoms of 
a hostile imagination instantly vanish. Then do you see 
how every thing has heen examined, discussed, tried; how 
every inch of ground has heen defended hy the adversary.— 
Abandoning the field of history, does he occupy that of 
reasoning "? Are you gravely assured that Christianism is 
contrary to human reason ? Are all those objections repeated, 
so much boasted of in our day, as the fruits of the advance- 
ment of the age, and aimed against religion itself, r gain si 
the Divinity of the Savior, salvation by grace, and the 
fail of man ? History still has something to say. She 
teaches you that these are shafts, long since used and broken: 
the ideas of Greek and Pagan authors revived ; for she will 
point you to them m Celsus, and Porphyry, and Hierocles, 
Greek and Heathen writers. On t lie one hand, history 
shows that all Ihese objections, so vaunted in our day, were 
employed from the earliest ages, against tiuih and the 
Church, which is its depository : and on the other hand, 
she shows you that very Church, advancing unceasingly 
amidst these assaults, growing, and extending every where 
its benefits. Fear not then ; for these assaults will no more 
injure the Church and arrest its progress now, than thev 
have hitherto. During eighteen centuries, the little preju- 
dices of the human mind have accustomed it to these 
attacks ; and with little or no anxiety on these subjects, 
the Church marches onward through eighteen centuries, to 
the triumph which her Head is preparing for her. 

But is there not reason to fear, that the history of the 
Church, and of the Reformation in particular, may revive 
polemics, above all against the Roman Catholics, and may 
re-open the wounds of the Western Church, as yet but im- 
perfectly healed 1 I believe the reverse. History will 
doubtless show uf, in a general way, truth on one side and 
error on the other. But she will also show us good and 
evil mixed here and there ; she will show us, on the side 
of the Catholics, many a true Christian, although in some 



12 

respects certainly but little enlightened ; and on the side of 
the Protestants, many a man unworthy of that name. She 
will show us Catholicism, adding without doubt many 
things to the Word of God, but preserving nevertheless 
most of the fundamental doctrines of Chnstianism, the 
depravity of man, salvation through the atonement, the 
essential Divinity of the Redeemer, the indispensable work 
of the Holy Spirit in she heart. And to pass thence to the 
history of the Reformation — I shall be a Protestant — I 
proclaim it before hand — Yet not as a sectarian, but as a 
Christian — I desire not to be unmindful of the respect which 
is due to men, in whose ranks have shown the names of 
Laurence de Bibra, Sadolet, Bonomeo, Vincent de Paul, 
Pascal, Fenelon. It shall not be my province to strike 
Catholicism with redoubled blows : that was the affair of 
Luther's a^e ; it was done then, and is not the business of 
our age: but it shall be alone my object, if I can accom- 
plish it, to invest with a touching influence the living prin- 
ciple, which produced in the sixteenth century a great reli- 
gious regeneration, and which must produce the same in 
our day. I shall notice the evils deeds of Protestants when 
I meet with them. I shall notice the good actions of Cath- 
olics, whenever I see them : and perhaps a favorable trait 
incidentaly mentioned by a nnrrator (I cannot say by a 
historian) of the Reformation, will sooth the mind more 
readily than apologies for Catholicism, in the mouth of one 
of its Priests. 

But then, it is lastly said, you must confess that the study 
of Chnstianism is advantageous to theologians only : but 
that we have nothing to do with it ; that to us it is useless. 
I take the distinction : certainly it is not necessary to sal- 
vation : the knowledge of Jesus Christ is alone sufficient : 
and if we were addressing those who were indifferent to all 
history* we should perhaps be less favourably situated for a 
reply. But we address an audience, who have not neglected 
the literarv and political histpry of Nations. We then say 
to you — Why should you reject that of Cbristianism ? If 
this concerns only divines, assuredly political history is the 
province only of Magistrates and Princes. Whenever the 
members of Councils of State, and of some other bodies, 
shall be the only students of civil history, I may understand 
that only Ministers of the Gospel should devote themselves 
to religious history. If there be a history which you desired 
to study, ought not that of religion to stand first ? Of the 
three great elements of history — politics, letters, religion — 
is not religion the most universal, and that which ought 
above all, to interest each member of society ? Had you not 



18 

a soul and a God, before yon had* literary and political 
sympathies ? Is not religion paramount in whatever is 
roost dear ami stfefced in man ? Let us grant thai hitherto 
you have replied religion as to yourselves, and* that you 
desire to study that only which influences the destinies of 
man, is not Christianism the moving principle of political 
development, of intellectual labor t What but this has 
given, and still gives the most powerful influence to the 
social life, to the literary genius of modern nations 1 The 
study of the History of Christianism useless! Is not this 
to say it is useless in a steam boat, to study tin machinery 
which communicates motion to the whole vessel ; that it is 
sufficient to study the vessel itself, the planks and jigging, 
which that machinery impels. The religion of Jesus 
Christ is the machine, which moves the world. 

But this very usefulness of that religion, especialy at this 
present time, remains to be laid before you. 

Jesus Christ founded in the midst of men, a kingdom of 
God : and thenceforward the history of the human race 
composed till then but of scattered, unconnected fragments, 
possessed a centre, to which every thing might and ought 
to be referred. This divine kingdom gave unity to the 
Nations of the Earth, and to their history — and through it, 
isolated members became a body. 

One of the noblest and most essential ideas of our age, 
as yet, perhaps *but indistinctly traced on many minds, but 
which must conti ualy become more and more, the funda- 
mental thought of those who reflect and believe, is that in 
the new period now opening before us, there will be no 
longer, so to speak, a personal history of nations, but a 
great history of hnman nature. Our age is the centre, 
where the numerous threads from various points are united, 
and thence issue in one cord. And what is this new period, 
but the fulfilment of the destinies of Christianism 1 Whilst 
some philosophers saw indistinctly, but yesterday, something 
of this vast centralization of the races of men, Christianism, 
opening the annals of a people, who had crucified their 
divine and eternal founder, exhibits there to the world, the 
annunciation of this mighty event in the history of man, 
declared two thousand years before its occurrence, to Abra- 
ham the Chaldean, " in thee shall all families of the Earth 
be blessed" : Gen. 12,3. And proclaimed still more clearly 
*.wo hundred years after, by an old man to his children, 
around his death-bed, when casting a prophetic look on the 
future,-and announcing this Messenger, who was to iss*ng 
from the midst of them, he adds, u Unto Him shall the 
gathering of the people be": Gen. 49, 10. Words of peace 



14 

winch that mysterious person, when he appeared here below, 
repeats to his disciples in language still more striking, if 
that be possible, " There shall be one fold and one shep- 
herd." John 10, 16. The religions of antiquity rendered 
impossible this vast assembly of nations. Like the lan- 
guages of Babel, they were so many walls, which separated 
nations from one another. The tribes of the Earth wor- 
shipped only National Gods — those Gods only suited the 
nations who made them. They had no points of contact, 
none of sympathy with any other people. Falsehood has 
a thousand strange faces, not resembling each other. Truth 
only is one, and this only can unite all the races of men. The 
idea of a universal kingdom of truth and holiness, was a 
stranger to the ancient world. And, if some sages had a 
vague and obscure presentiment of it ; with them it was 
but a conception without the possibility of their even 
imagining what might be its reality. Christ came and im- 
mediately accomplished what the religions and sages of 
the world had not even been able to foresee. He founds a 
spiritual kingdom, to which all Nations are called. He 
overturns according to the energetic language of his Apos- 
tle, the fences, the middle wall of- partition which divided 
nations, and "hath made both one ,, — "for to make in 
himself of twain, one new man, so making peace." Eph. 
2, 14, 15, Christianism is not like the ancient religions, a 
doctrine adapted to a certain degree of development in 
nations ; it is a truth from heaven, which is able at the 
same time to act on man under every grade of improve- 
ment and climate. It bestows on human nature, whatever 
hi ay be its rudeness, or the diversities of changes, which 
letters and philosophy may have produced, the principle of 
a new and truly divine life. A ad this life is to be at once 
the great means of development to all nations, and the 
centre of their unity. With its appearance, commenced 
in the universe, the only real cosmopolitism. Citizens of 
Judea, of Pontus, of Greece, of Egypt, of Rome, till then 
mutual enemies, embrace like brothers. Christianism is 
that tree, of which the Scriptures speak, whose leaves are 
-" for the healing of the nations. Apocal. ch. 22. v. 2. ft 
acts at the same time on the most opposite states of society. 
It regenerates and vivifies the world, corrupted by the Cce- 
sars — and soon after softens and civilizes the barbarous 
hordes of the North, And at this very time, it produces 
similar effects on the citizens of London, Paris, and Berlin, 
and on the savages of Greenland, Caffraria, and the 
Sandwich Islands. The net is cast over the whole earth, 
and the day cometh when a heavenly hand shall hold 



15 

captive in it all the races of men. Ye have perceived, men 
of the age, that we are passing out of the period of nations, 
and entering on that of human nature ; hut fashion not for 
yourselves a paltry standard for the union of nations. A 
new hierarchy, with its common frame, cannot be the bond 
of unity, nor political liberalism, which carries tempests 
and discord in its bosom. Christ is ihis ensign of winch 
the prophet speaks, Is. 11. 12. ; and around which " shall 
the gathering of the people be." Gen. 49, 10. 

But whilst many in our day hail at this moment, the dawn 
of a new re-organization, others on the contrary, behold in 
it only an epoch of dissolution. And these two opinions, 
apparently opposite, are perfectly harmonious ; since disso- 
lution must precede re-organization. The two great povv- 
ers of man have been unable to resolve the problem of 
human nature. The Hierarchy had undertaken it, but 
failed: and the iron arm of Rome was broken. Human 
Philosophy rushed into its place, and said : I will accom- 
plish it. But the disorder of the nations has increased in a 
frightful ratio. There remains the power of God, or 
Christianism, which already, while human power was 
making its trials, has laid every where the foundations of 
the new edifice. And it will succeed. Do you exclaim, 
that in our day, men walk in uncertainty : that all the 
doctrines for the welfare of nations are doubtful? It is true, 
that all does seem in our day to be dissolving. But, O 
man ! listen to thy master, a master of eighteen centuries 
old, who lias assisted more than once at the decline and 
elevation of nations, at the decomposition and recomposi- 
tion of the world, and who has been the great organic 
principle of nations. Listen to what it has been, to know 
what it will be : and to what it has done, to know what it 
will do. Christianism is totally different from the religions 
of men. In these, it is man who gives strength to religion : 
in that, religion gives strength to man. Whilst the Repub- 
lic was counting its days of glory, the gods of Rome shone 
with the greatest lustre. But when corruption had seized 
on domestic life, when personal ambition and venality had 
assailed public life, religion, wormeaten at the base, decays 
and disappears with them. Jupiter falls, and is buried 
under the ruins of his own capital. Christianism, on the 
contrary, independent of man, remains firm amidst the fall 
of nations, (their annals testify this) and renews the world 
by its power. When all the social forms of humanity are 
destroyed, as at the epoch of the invasion of the Barbarians, 
the religion of Jesus Christ remains upright on their ruins, 
and her hand scatters amid the chaos that seed, whence 



16 

humanity shall rise anew. Fear not the mournful state of 
the world, at this time. Hutory, and especialy that which 
we shall lay before you, demonstrates that when corruption 
has extended its ravages the farthest over the world, the 
Divine power of Christianism, which lias not its roots in the 
entrails of human nature, rises with the greatest power. — 
The Spirit of God is moving on the chaos, and out of it he 
will bring forth a new earth. 

But the history of Christianism will teach you moreover 
that this religion is the instrument, which he has chosen to 
accomplish ins work. It will exhibit her mode of action, 
not. as a continued influence, but as a succession of strug- 
gles and combat?. The essence of Christianism is conflict 
with the world. And thus the true Church of Christ hath 
appeared from the beginning, as " militant" amidst the 
nations. Already have two enemies successively assailed 
her, and been vanquished, however easily they promised to 
crush her. At first, she had to combat without against the 
idolatry and vices of Paganism. Paganism fell. But 
scarcely had this victory been gained, when the danger 
appeared in the bosom of the church. Whilst men slept, 
according to the parable of the Divine and Eternal founder 
of Christianism, the enemy came and sowed tares among 
the wheat. Math. 13. 25. The evil continued to increase. 
The Church had been founded that man might seek for 
heaven in it, and there he sought only the world. Then 
the true Church shook off the dust of death. Arrayed as it 
were, in an instant, in the spiritual armor which God had 
prepared for her, she began a war, the most terrible, because 
intestine. Rome, vigorously assailed, tottered, and the 
crown fell from her head. This war we propose to lay 
before you. It remains for Christianism to obtain a final 
victory. An enemy, who is neither within nor without, as 
were the two first, or rather who is both at the ^me, time, 
advances to the last # assault. I refer to the incredulous, 
anti-ehnstian spirit of the age. More powerful, more ter- 
rible still, than the two fust adversaries, he casts upon 
Christianism that look of disdain, which the god of the 
capitol once cast on the citizen of Tarsus, in chains at their 
feet, and which, fifteen centuries after, Leo and the mag- 
nificent Court of the Medici cast, with a smile, into the 
obscure cell of an Au^ustin Monk. Still more may be said. 
The anti-christian spirit of the world, now lifting his banner 
so high, does not suspect the e eim which is to vaj quish 
him. And yet he will be conquered : and the formidable 
giant of the age, who defies the God of the armies of IsaraeJ, 



17 

(l Sam. 17. 45.) struck in the forehead, shall fall with his 
face to the earth, under the sling of the enemy whom he has 
despise I. 

Is the question asked, by what arms shall this victory be 
gained? Here, again, the History of Christianism will give 
the answer. It shows you that this religion has twice 
regenerated the world, at lesst partialy, by doctrines 
entirely its own. To pretend that the religious system, 
which is to accomplish the grand solution, desired by all, 
consists of those general ideas of religion, to be found in 
Rabbinical Judaism, in Mahometanism, and even in Pagan 
Philosophy, is a strange error : for these ideas never have 
produced the regeneration of the people, who have known 
iheni. The power of Christianism lies in its peculiarity. It 
compels man to feel the astonishing contrast, between his 
whole life, and the law of its holiness. It produces in him 
the desire of deliverance from so miserable a condition. It 
reveals to him the magnificent work, which the mercy of a 
God has accomplished for his rescue, in the death of the 
Cross. It proclaims by the command of the King of the 
world, an entire amnesty through all the world. Now, we 
maintain two things. Firsts that this neus of a full pardon 
of a perfect amnesty proclaimed upon earth, that rebelious 
province of the empire of the King of Kings, is alone capa- 
ble of touching, of changing the heart of man, and of 
inclining him through love to obey the Sovereign who 
reclaims them. Ye politicians of the age, what advice 
would you give to a king for the establishment of peace and 
subordination, in the midst of a rebellious people? Classi- 
fications, conditions, scaffolds ? or a generous amnesty 
without reserve, calculated to win all hearts ? And we 
maintain, secondly, that the submission of the heart to God, 
the inward power of Christianism, is the only powers which 
can now heal the diseases of nations. Every bond is broken. 
Selfishness and the spirit of censure are universal. There 
are but two methods for the le-establishment of order and 
peace, among the rising and agitated masses: exterior and 
violent measures of compression : or the interior persua- 
sive power of Christianism. What do I say 1 There is but 
one ; for as to the first, all nations have shown its ineffi- 
ciency. Three days have sufficed. By destroying selfish- 
ness, and planting in the hearts of all, the love of God and 
the love of man, Christianism alone will resolve the great 
problem, and establish liberty among the nations with order 
and peace.* These truths, taught by the nature of things, 
history will confirm. As to the first, she will disclose to Us 

* Note C. 

3 



18 



the unheard of power of Christianism. She will prove to m 
that these doctrines can accomplish an actual second birth 
of human nature. And as to the second, extemporaneous 
history shall instruct us. Enquire of her in what nations 
order and liberty are the most, closely united, and she will 
answer by pointing to the countries where the Gospel is the 
most openly proclaimed, the must universally believed. — 
But above all, history will show that a power not of m.\n 
hath produced those partial regenerations, which are symbols 
and precursors of that universal regeneration, announced 
by Christianitm. Call this power, God, or the Spirit of God, 
or ^ven Providence: the name is of little consequence : the 
fact is certain : something hath decended from heaven. — 
Such is the present state of the world, that whoever believes 
not in this power, as independent of the world, may well 
despair. But for ourselves, nothing terrifies us. " Give 
me," said Archimedes, " a place to stand on, and I will 
move the earth." Christianism is that point beyond the 
world, from which it shall be one day entirely displaced: 
and shall revolve on a new axis of righteousness and peace. 
Then shall be poured out on all nations a mighty influence 
of the Spirit of God. Such are the most ancient promises. 
The Trojan war had just closed, f and Rome was not yet 
founded, when, in the midst of the people, to whom God 
had entrusted the germs of religion for all the nations of the 
earth, these prophetic words resounded. " until the Spirit 
be poured upon us from on high," " and the work of righte- 
ousness shall be peace. Isaiah, 32. 15. 17. 

Do you desire to know the obstacles, which this renova- 
tion of human nature has to encounter, so that you may 
wisely remove them. The history of Christianism will point 
them out. They have been the same at all times — A 
wisdom, shall I say, or a folly, altogether earthly and carnal, 
which ridicules divine things, and would contract God and 
his kingdom to the narrow dimensions of its own scale : a 
priestly despotism, which claims alone the privilege of 
managing heavenly things, which turns ja deaf ear to 
examination and research into the Divine Word, and 
materializes Religion : a fanaticism, which opposes with 
all its might, the knowledge of the truth ; which being 
hostile to liberty, would silence those who utter it ; which 
labors to arm public opinion against Christianism and 
Christians, — whatever may be the name, which this fanati- 
cism bears, such as Jewish, Pagan, Dominican or falsely 
liberal and philosophic — such are the principal obstacles, 
which the History of Christianism exhibits. 

* Note JD. 



19 

Bo you ask with the Age for movement, for progress ? 
History will show you that Christianism is the religion of 
progress : and that slit calls man by continual advancements, 
to the liberty and the glory of the'ehildreu of Gnd. Let us 
carefuly remark, that there are only two spheres, in which 
advancements can be made— viz. in the religion destined to 
renew mankind, or in man himself called to be renewed. 
The man of our Age ascribes this progress to religion : 
Religion— to man himself. Christianism came forth perfect 
from God : and is unchangeable as its author. Thou, O 
Man ! art thus continualy to advance : and in like raannet 
that immense Christian Society, which the truth enlightens. 
The sun, is not himself advancing to perfection ; but per- 
fectionates the shrub, which, receiving life from him, becomes 
a majestic tree. It is the same with Christianism and man. 
The Gospel places the goal, towards which that Christian 
Society ought to tend, beyond the veil, which separates the 
two worids. Thus, the Gospel summons society to a pro- 
gress, incomparably beyond all that human systems demand, 
and assigns a task, which can only be accomplished in 
eternity. 

Will you speak of enlightenment ? Will you say that we 
have reached an age, too full of light for the triumph of 
Christianism ? The History of Christianism, will show 
you, that she fears not that .light, though frequently a false 
one. I shall not speak of the present epoch, when she lifts 
her head, with more energy than ever. This age at least 
ought to be out of the question. I shall not speak of the 
Reformation, preceded for a semicentury, by the great 
events, which signalized the revival of letters— We shall 
soon attend to it. But consider what the History of Chris- 
tianism records on its first leaf. The age of Augustus, 
when Jesus was born, is among the most brilliant in the 
annals of mankind. Christianism chose the noon-day for 
its appearance. A religious system, which had lasted as 
long as the nation, was crumbling under the assaults of the 
reason of the age : and at that moment, Christianism 
presents itself to be, in like manner, examined and assailed. 
The raillery of the man of wit, the assaults of eloquence, 
the protracted warfare of philosophy and learning, it chal- 
lenges all : it sustains the shock : and nothing moves it. 
On the contrary, it advances, it leads the thoughts captive, 
in obedience to the God whom it announces : and in celes- 
tial triumph on the theatre of human glory, it often numbers 
around its car, those who had been the most formidable of 
enemies. Christianism is the true light : it is the sun which 
rises above all the lights of this lower sphere. u I am the 
light of the world," said Jesus Christy 



20 

Lastly, will the Age speak of the future ? Will attention 
vouchsafed to a doctrine onlv so far as it relates to the 
future ? The future belongs to Christianism. She cla>ms 
it noi today, or yesterday, like the ephemeral prophets of 
our day. She said so four thousand years ago. The se- 
venteenth century was that of the past : the eighteenth is 
that of the present : the nineteenth is that of the future, 
and this belongs to Christianism. Men. if enlightened and 
sincere, can no longer continue strangers to the ancient 
promises of the future, laid up in the book of the Nations. 
Following out in history the accomplishment of the Oracles 
of God, they will arrive at those which declare, that u the 
Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord" — that 
" his rest shall he glorious." Is. 11. 9, 10. Ever smce the 
men who were the heralds of God, uttered these words, all 
has been advancing, and all is now moving onward to their 
glorious fulfilment. Christianism is on her march, and she 
will never retreat. H^r work is scarcely roughhewn ; but 
she will finish it. She will bring about a great revolution 
on earth, which shall change its very being. The times are 
not perhaps very distant, when its destinies will be accel- 
erated. A new history commences. Christ opens to the 
world the gates of a new future. M Great voices" shall be 
one day heard, as a prophet tell us, saying " the kingdoms 
of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of 
his Christ." Rev. 11. 15. 

These are my reasons for maintaing that the history of 
Christianism is the most important of all historical studies : 
not only in general, but particularly with a view to the 
present epoch. Christianism, holds in her hand** the 
the future destinies of the world. She bears in herself the 
regenerative force that will renew the nations, the bond 
which must unite them. Here is that beneficent power 
which will spread over the earth and establish righteousness, 
liberty and peace. O ye men of the age ! there only may 
you learn the direction, which you ought to give to all your 
efforts and labors. Study in the past, the history of that 
which must accomplish such great results in the future. 
Dedicate to this study your spirit of research and your pro- 
found meditations. Set the example of abandoning the 
beaten track of the world : and of seeking light, life, the 
future, where only they are found. Young people who hear 
me, be the first to comprehend the calling of the new gene- 
ration : Receive first for yourselves, the light which 
Christianism has kindled : and then go forth, the beacon 
fires of the Nations. 



21 

I am now to ask your attention to the history of the 
Reformation in Germany : or at least of the most important 
period of that history. Perhaps you will enquire what has 
led me to solicit that subject : and what circumstances have 
induced this narrative. 1 saw Germany, and loveo her for 
the sake of this excelcnt work, which I propose, as my 
theme. The Reformation, at the festival of its third cen- 
tenial jubilee, welcomed me on the road, and in the Germanic 
cities, on my arrival in 1817. I recal, (and not without 
some pain, when I reflect how far fmm them was the spirit 
of the Reformation) those bands of students, who flacked 
to the famous antique castle of Wurtzburg, where we shall 
one day, in the course of my review, behold Luther a 
Captive. I love to believe that those youths were rather 
indiscreet than guilty ! I well remembar how ihe gates of 
that ancient fortress, (to which those young Germans were 
ascending in solemn procession,) opened immediately before 
me, at the name of Geneva, and the emotions revive which 
I experienced, when 1 found myself in the prison-chamber 
of Luther. I remember those melodious strains, which 
some days after, announced the festival within the walls of 
Leipsic, descending before the dawn of day, from the sum- 
mit of the invisible towers of the churches, as though they 
had been music from heaven. Again, I met the Reforma- 
tion in illustrious teachers at Berlin. I shall name only 
Neander, the lather of the new History of Christianism, 
Neander whose tender affection is so dear to my heart, and 
who has raised up in Germany that Christian instruction, 
to which other friends, his juniors, the Tholucks and the 
Heugstenbergs, now impart life with all the strength of their 
faith. Again I found it on the borders of the Elbe, in the 
midst of the kindred and friends of the simple, yet profound 
Claudius of Wandsbeck — and of the sublime poet of " The 
Messiah." Again, I found it in the ancient and Catholic 
Brabant itself, near the throne on which sat the descendant 
of the Nassaus, the heir of the Silent^ that noble hero of 
the Reformation of the low countries. There the earth 
soon trembled beneath my feet. The throne which it bore, 
crumbled at the sound of the fall of another throne. A 
Queen of cities became during four days, the bloody field 
of horrible combats. There I was a witness, and near\y a 
victim of unspeakable calamities. I returned to our moun- 
tains, after an absence of fourteen years, desiring if God 
should give me adequate strength, to speak amidst my 
countrymen, of those admirable things whose glory and 
influence met me every where. Perhaps, those noble, 
correct, and liberal manners, whose charm I experienced in 



a foreign land, have not been found by me in all at home. 
Subject, however, myself to human frailties, 1 shall know- 
how to excuse, and not to condemn them in others. 1 
promise then a cordial welcome to all who are disposed to 
hear my simple narrative* We shall survey together the 
plains of Mansfeld, the cells of Erfurt, the halls of Wit- 
tenberg, the palaces of x\ugsburg, of Leipsic, and of Worms. 
You will behold the Reformation. You will examine all 
things. Yon will not suffer the yoke of man to rest on 
your necks. I have seen Wi item berg, I have seen the land 
where the despotism of Rome perished : let us not bow- 
down before the despotism of the Age. A freeman myself, 
I seek after freemen : and I believe I have found them. 
May the divine blessing rest on my narrative ! May words 
be vouchsafed to me, suitable to spread true light and true 
liberty ! and whilst I am relating to you the history of a 
great event in the Kingdom of God, may ihe image of Christ, 
King of the Church, grow unceasingly before your eyes s 
and in your hearts ! 



NOTES. 



NOTE A.— Page 3. 

I have used the word Christianism, instead of Christianity, through- 
out the translation, the former being the term in the original. It 
appears to be singular that Christianism in French should mean the 
Christian Religion, and Christianity, Christendom or the nations 
professing it ; whilst in English, they signify the reverse, though the 
former has both meanings. — Translator, 

NOTE £.— Page 6. 

* This passage recals a similar one in my Address before the Literary 
and Philosophical Society of South Carolina, delivered 9th May, 1827. 
It is found at pages 23, 24, 25, of the volume containing my principal 
pieces on Literature and Education, published at New Haven, April 
1831, by H. Howe. It is as follows: 

"My subject calls, however, for a free, impartial review of the charac- 
ter of the Reformation, and of its influence on Science ; nor is it possi- 
ble to examine the history of that period, in any point of view, how- 
ever remote from Religion, without a continual reference to the state of 
the Catholic Church, in connection with government and society, both 
spiritual and temporal — with the Arts and Sciences — with the fortnnes 
and character of nations — with the education and general welfare of 
the people. Considering the Reformation as matter of history and 
philosophy, it must be a chief ingredient in every discussion, on enlarg- 
ed principles, of the state of the world for the last three hundred years, 
of its actual condition now, and of it's future prospects. Besides, the 
Protestants of these United States may well believe, that without the 
Reformation, they would have been rather like the South Americans^ 



jNOTES. 

before the late Revolutions, than what they now are, the wonder, arwl 
admiration, and example of the world. They may well believe, also* 
that their Catholic brethren, fellow-heirs of* the same glorious and in- 
esiimable heritage of Religious Political and Civil Rights, nevei would 
have enjoyed, in any Catholic country , the full measuie of power and 
liberty, of property and happiness, which the youngest child of the Re- 
formation confers on the eldest daughtei of the Christian household. 
Under these considerations, and with these sentiments, t proceed to ex- 
ecute the task which 1 have undertaken ; satisfied that my opinions will 
he those not merely of a Protestant, but of an American, and of a 
Man, the lover of truth, the thoughtful student of historical philosophy. 
In many of the following pages. 1 shall adopt the very language of Vil- 
lers, especially in those passages, which express the severe, but deliber- 
ate judgment of that invaluable writer, as to the degraded condition of 
the whole circle of knowledge, at the close of the fifteenth century. 

I have said that the Reformation only, gave or could have given to 
all literature, not merely to the literature of Theology, a decisive, 
permanent character. To express it otherwise, my settled judgmeut is, 
that without the Reformation, the revival of learning, which had com- 
menced, would have terminated as all others had, in public ostentation, 
princely patronage, and the dazzling homage of Genius and Taste, 
still intent 

" To heap the shrine of luxury and pride, 
" With incense, kindled at the Muse's flame." 

But the people, the people would have remained almost, if not 
altogether, in the same degraded and miserable condition, as to civil, 
political, and religious rights, as to education, as to social improvment, 
and individual welfare. To illustrate this opinion, let us advert to the 
actuai state of Europe, before the French Revolution, bearing in mind 
the remark of Montesquieu, that Loyola would have governed the 
world, but for Luther and Calvin. He, iu defiance of the Reformers, 
has swayed Italy, Spain and Portugal : they rescued from him and his 
Church, and have ruled Holland, England, and Scotland. Ignatius 
has governed South America: Calvin and Luther these United States. 
Is there now an Ameriean, whether of the Reformed or Romish Creed, 
who would exchange the condition of the Protestant Countries, which 
have been named, for that of Southern Europe or Southern America . 
Is it not obvious, that Society has been comparatively stationary for 
300 years, in these ; while Protestant nations have been continually 
advancing? Look at the wonderful progress of Holland, Great Britain, 
and our own country, since the Reformation. Place beside them, Italy 
Spain, and Portugal: and assign, if practicable, any adequate causes ', 
for the incalculable difference, except the principles of the Reformers. 
Every student of the philosophy of history, I feel assured, re-echoes the 
sentiment, these only are the causes. If then, as I have already 
said, Science avd Art are nothing worth, unless they bless the people, as 
well as adorn Ihe State, and if in Protestant countries, they have thus 
blessed, as well as adorned, beyond all parallel ; it becomes a question 
most interesting and momentous, how have the principles of the 
Reformers wrought this change in the use and application of the whole 
circle of knowledge? I proceed to attempt an explanation ; though I 
believe that every improved mind, already comprehends the develop- 
ment of my subject. 

The Reformers began with the fundamental principle, the obligation 
end correspondent right of private examination and private judo ment. 
They a I anted m superior to control and limit this duty and this right, 
save God an his Scriptures. Whatever uninspired man had done or 
could do, whether individually or collectively, was acknowledged a* 



NOTfes. 

guides .to the understanding - , but not as authority to bind the conscience 
and the judgment. The position was taken that Man not only Had a 
right, in regard to his fellow men, hut was obliged by the law of God, to 
study his word, and by that standard, to examine she history o^ the 
Church ; her doctrine, worship and ceremonies ; the acts of councils; 
the writings of the fathers and the scholastic theology ; and last, tho' 
not least, the authority of the Pope. This was, in religion, " the 
declaration of INDEPENDENCE* — and by its principles the reformers 
did for the shackled mind, what the angel did for Peter in the prison ; 
they die" for the mind's eye. what Ananias did for Paul, when at his 
touch, the Apostle received his sight." — Translator. 

NOTE C.—Page 17. 

These reflections of our author, induce me to place in a note, two 
passages of the same Address, referred to in Note 3. They are found 
in the same volume at pages 17 and 28. 

" And do we not s i, e that the total failure of the Greeks and Romans 
in political philosophy, is due to the same cause, as their failure in 
morals ? viz. an ignorance of the only true foundations of society and 
government, of the authority of public, and the obedience of private 
men, of the political awd civil rights of the citizen ? All these, accord- 
ing to the wise principles and experienced judgment of modern times, 
are laid in moral obligation, with God as its author, and Man as its 
subject. In a word, the code of public morals is founded on the code 
of private morals. Government is regarded as an institution for the 
good of society, and rulers but as agents ; whilst the relative rights and 
duties of the g-overnor and the governed, are referred to the plain, 
practical sense, to the divine, yet simple wisdom, to the pure, the just, 
the immutable principles of Christian morals In fine, the New Testa- 
ment, is the moral constitution of modern society." 

*' The grand result of all the principles of the Reformation, and of 
all the considerations flowing from them, is worthy of such a cause, 
and of such champions, as the Refoimers. It centres in two words — 
duty and usefulness : Duty, as the only criterion of right ; Usefulness, as 
the only standard of merit In a word, the Reformation ordained, not 
only for its own day. arid the communities of that day, but for all time, 
8 m] for all nation , that the New Testament is the only genuine moral 
constitution of Society, and its principles, the only safe and wise founda- 
tion of all civil and political establishments." — Translator. 

NOTE D.— Page IS. 

t According to the usual chronology, the Trojan war happened at the 
very commencement of the 12th century, (B. C. 1193) before the Chris- 
tian aera. Isiah prophesied B, C. 760, and Rome was founded B. C. 
753 ; so that it seems \ery incorrect, to speak thus of an intermediate 
event, (the prophesy,) when it happened 433 years after the first, and 
only 7 years before the last event. And if we were to allow with Sir 
Isaac Newton, " that the ancient profane history is g-enerally carried 
about 300years higher backward than the truth ;" yet if we reduce the 
first date by-300 years, so as to bring- it to 893 B. C. and reduce the 
date of the building of Rome, by 106 years, according to Newton's 
principles, (by allowing 18 or 20 years— say 20 — for the rei^n of each 
of the Kings) to B. C 647— still the expression " venait de finir" hari 
just ended, would be incorrect, when applied to an event, 133 years 
before the days of Isaiah. 



Wis 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: April 2005 

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